Survivor: Krakow

today was a long day. we went with a few people from our program to these salt mines outside of krakow. the salt mines were basically just like underground caves where people used to and still mine salt. we went down like 100 flights of stairs to go to these caves and it kinda felt like the movie, journey to the center of the earth, but without brendan frasiers' hilarious witty asides. bummer. we thought it was gonna be tight but it wasnt that great. we had a tour guide who spoke in english but she kinda weirded me out cause she had the same hairstyle as david bowie circa 1981. and she also sounded like a polish robot with a really eerie tone. so monesplye just kicked it in the caboose of the tour with a tiny asian family. because i was too far away to hear the guide, i created my own tour in my head. it went something like this:

these mines used to be the ancient gypsy kingdom of gypsytania (JIP-SEE-TAY-NEE-A). gypsys kept to their own down there until WalMart decided to buy the mines for 3 dollars (equivalent to 3 trillion in gypsy currency) and turned it into a money-making tourism spot.

a few nights ago we went out with some people from work and as ben mentioned in his previous post, the place we were at turned out to be a gay bar/club. one of these girls had friends from germany there and we were chillen with them for a while. i was talking to this hot german girl named hannah and she told me that she lived in lexington, kentucky for a year and has been to GATLINBERG. how absurd is that? literally the last place on earth i would have expected her to say. she was being a tease the whole night, especially on the dance floor, but as the night came to a close i noticed that her and her other german friend were closer than the average BFFAEAE's. i think it was the way they snuggled on the couch, passionately sharing a cigarette and embracing each other to the fullest that made me realize that they were lezzing out.

this was the night that we were staying with the people from work so my bag was at the hostel and the only clothes i had were plaid shorts, a city sports t-shirt, vandy sweatshirt and sneakers. i looked like the biggest idiot at this place. just imagine me sitting and dancing at this pretty gay bar in that attire. the freakin bouncers made me lift up my sweatshirt when i got in because he mustve thought i was packing heat under my vandy hoodie. as you could guess, no gays hit on me :(

right before we left, a friend of the girls we worked with (who happened to be blacked out) sat next to me on a couch and told me to take advantage of being an american in poland as long as i didnt hurt anyone. i have no fucking clue what this broad was talking about. did i really look threatening in my t-shirt and plaid shorts? she then rambled on about her fiance and how she was in love with him but questioned his sexual selection and violence. i just sat there and nodded my head cause i had no idea what was going on.

work is still really fun. i thoroughly enjoy hanging out with these kids. they are funny and really friendly and even though we dont speak the same language, it still really feels like we are making a strong connection with them. monesplye feels positive about the experience. i like chillen in the art room with some of the girls and making clay animals. its like sex and the city meets the babysitters club meets daddy day care. we just like sit and like gossip about the boys.


i will leave you with another observation i have made here. it seems to be that in krakow and many other places in europe i imagine that people say the best food can be found in these hole in the wall places that look like prison dining halls. the food is good but that is the exact opposite as the united states, or at least nyc. those places in nyc probly serve rat meat instead of chicken. so im going to stay positive and not think the same applies here.

until next time bloggers. you stay classy.

-stb